Harness making or mending device.



TATENTED NOV. s, 1903.

S. IZANT. HARNESS MAKING OR MENDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8, 1901.

N0 MODEL.

V mvau'wo WASHINGTON o c UNITED STATES Patented November 3, 190a PATENT OFFICE.

sILAs IZANT, OF EAST CLEVELAND, OI-IIQ.

HARN

SS MAKING QR MENDING DEVICE srncii'rch'riolv ibfiriing part of Letters Patent No. 742,993, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed July 8, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SILAs IZANT, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harness Making or Mending Devices; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. Myinvention has reference to harness making and mending devices; and the object of the invention is to provide a device or medium for any one who has broken or torn harness to mend the same without resorting to the harness-maker or to needle and thread, as heretofore, or to other inconvenient means for mending broken harness,- as well as for making or manufacturing harness and other leather articles. To these ends I provide a device fashioned from suitable sheet metal and with prongs and engaging ends and designed to be kept in stock in hardware and other establishments as an article of trade and purchase, all substantially as shown and described, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of one form of my improved fastener alone, and .Fig. 2 is a plan or outer view of the same shown in fastening position on two meeting ends of a strap. Fig. 3 is a bottom or inner view of Fig. 2, showing how the extremities of the fastener and the prongs or teeth are engaged thereon.

Still other forms of this invention might be shown; but these are suflicient to illustrate my idea.

Referring now again to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, where the same form appears, the said device A is shown as having four several prongs or sharpened nearly V-shaped points 2 struck from its sides and projecting inward at right angles to the body of the device and directly opposite each other in pairs. This, it will be understood, is their commercial position. Between said prongs or sharpened points at each side or end of the fastener are the tongues 3, shown in full lines as lying down flat with Serial No; 67,412. (No model.)

the body, but which may, if desired, be bent up at right angles, as shown in dotted lines. However, the first position is regarded as the better commercial one, because the said tongues should not really be bent until it is ascertained with what width of strap they are to be used; Then they are bent around back upon the body A and flat upon the strap and overlap the abutting ends of the strap between the side prongs 2, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. These tongues or extremities might overlap the leather farther than shown or not so far; but a good length is shown in these figures. It will be noticed also in these views that the prongs 2 at each side engage in the straps B at such distance from the edges of the straps that there is no danger of the straps being torn out. as a feature peculiar to this invention that the prongs 2 are struck up from the side of the fastener, so as to present their edges in line with the length of the strap. This enables the prongs to be engaged through the straps without weakening them,as they would if they were cut transversely of the straps. I-regard this as a very material point of ad vantage in the fastener here shown, and so far as I-know it is a wholly novel idea in the art. Then by pressing the extremities 3 down flat upon the adjacent edges of the, straps and overlapping said edges between the prongs 2 relatively as here shown I produce a fastening which practical tests have demonstrated to be as strong and enduring as they could be if they were sewed by a harnessmaker, and all this with the preservation of a flat and unobjectionable working surface at the joint, which is thus connected.

If the prongs and extremities of the fastener be pressed down into the surface of the leather as they should be, the leather itself will swell out about them more or less and leave practically an even working surface.

What I claim is- A fastener for harness and other straps, consisting of a piece of sheet metal, the said ends bent inwardly around the edges of the strap and overlapping one side thereof, the middle portion of the said plate being wider than the said end portions, and a set of teeth stand- I00 ing up at each side of the said middle porsaid inwardly-bent endportion's of the teeth 10 tion, at right angles to said middle portion, of the said fastener.

and lying in planes which are transverse'to Witness my hand to the foregoing specifithe length of the fastener and wholly outside cation this 27th dayof June, 1901.

of the said end portions, the said teeth adapted to project through the said strap with SILAS IAANT' their faces parallel to the edges thereof, and Witnesses: then bent inwardly toward each other, the R. B. MOSER,

said bent-over portions extending beyond the H. E. MUDRA. 

